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57-589: The concept was to play only the current hits on the Top 30 (or Top 50 on some stations) and no recurrents (that is, recent hits which had already finished their run on the charts) or oldies whatsoever (unless they happened to be cuts on current chart albums). Most "Hot Hits" stations used a jingle package from TM Productions, Inc. (now TM Studios ) of Dallas, Texas, known initially as "The Actualizers" and syndicated combined with another package as "Fusion" by 1982, however both "The Actualizers" and "Fusion" cuts had been renamed

114-500: A merger of Sirius and XM, the two services shifted to a unified group of decades channels, with the playlists for most cut back to reflect a more conventional style of Oldies programming. SiriusXM further marginalized its Oldies stations over the years, moving its 1940s channel off channel 4 in 2015, then in 2021 by moving its 1950s and 1960s channels out of their 5 and 6 channel slots respectively. Music Choice similarly offers an interruption-free Oldies station, which includes music from

171-503: A Spanish-language version of the format, complete with the "Hot Hits" jingle package, in the mid-1990s, although they referred to the format by the English phrase "Super Hits." Joseph, who had trademarked the phrase "Hot Hits" in 1979, did allow some of his former client stations, including WHYT and WCAU-FM, to continue identifying themselves with the phrase "Hot Hits", and also allowed some stations he did not consult which he felt were close to

228-560: A dozen Oldies radio channels, with XM offering separate stations for each decade from the 1940s to the 1990s, and Sirius doing the same for the 1950s through the 1980s, initially all in prime single-digit channel positions. These companies also offered specific genre channels for disco and dance hits, garage rock , classic rock , classic country , and vintage R&B and soul hits. These pay radio channels boasted thousands of songs in their libraries, ensuring far less repetition than traditional broadcast stations. In November 2008, following

285-724: A few FM stations adopted top 40 formats that leaned towards adults who did not want to hear the same 30 songs repetitively but also did not want to hear music featured on Middle of the road radio stations. They mixed in Oldies with their current product and only played new music a few times an hour. These radio stations were often referred to as "gold" stations. Some AM radio stations also began to employ this format. There were also syndicated music format packages such as Drake-Chenault 's "Solid Gold" format, frequently used on FM stations that needed separate programming from their AM sisters (due to then-new FCC rules on simulcasting ), that functioned as

342-757: A hybrid of Oldies and the adult-oriented softer rock hits of the day. The popularity of the movie American Graffiti is often credited with helping to spur the 1950s nostalgia movement of the early 1970s. It is this movement that gave rise to a number of gold-based stations, such as WHND / WHNE (Honey Radio) in Detroit , WCBS-FM in New York City , WQSR in Baltimore , and WROR in Boston , that were classified as Oldies stations and not adult top 40 . These stations, did play current product sparingly (one or two per hour) throughout

399-655: A long-running but low-rated classical music format to hit radio as "96 Tics" . Classical music fans were irate, but the move paid off for WTIC-FM, as the station was top five-rated in the Hartford market by the end of that year. Although WTIC-FM dumped the 96 Tics name, the Fusion jingles, and the Mike Joseph formatics in the spring of 1979, it continued as a Top 40 station until tweaking its sound to Hot Adult Contemporary in 1994. The first Mike Joseph-consulted station to actually use

456-469: A successful Top 40 station in years past, was not consulted by Mike Joseph although it was modeled after WCAU-FM and followed the basics of Joseph's formula to the letter. The format's success also inspired imitators, such as the Rick Peters-derived "Hit Radio" approach utilized at a number of CBS-owned FM stations, including WHTT (formerly WEEI-FM) Boston, KHTR St. Louis, and KKHR Los Angeles, in

513-477: A year later. WCAU-FM came to dominate as Philadelphia's first and only choice for non-stop hot hit music from 1981 to 1986. WCAU-FM ended when they flipping to Oldies as WOGL in 1987. Within a year of WCAU-FM debuting "98 Now," "Hot Hits" had moved west to Chicago's WBBM-FM , where the original staff included Steve Davis, Joe Dawson, Gary Spears, Dave Robbins, Bob Lewis, Frank Foster and Tony Taylor; and Detroit's WHYT (now WDVD ), which both coincidentally were both on

570-506: Is becoming increasingly rare on radio. Of the 1000 most played songs on radio as of May 2020, only four of them are from before 1970, and three of them also benefit from being aired on classic rock stations, Oldies, and classic hits. Of the 100 songs that suffered the most drop-off in popularity from their heyday to 2022, a majority were from the 1960s; 56% were from before the British Invasion and another 13% were from then to 1969. This

627-452: Is despite a small pantheon of songs from that era that have become part of an "eternal jukebox of all-ages event records," as well as parents and grandparents who had listened to the music when they were younger passing those songs on to their children; in the latter case, the older songs popular among the younger crowd can be more random, driven by exposure in television, film, commercials and person-to-person. The Oldies format remains one of

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684-423: Is known for the near-total and sometimes arbitrary exclusion of some acts that were very popular in their time, including The Osmonds and Barbra Streisand . A variation on the Oldies theme is classic hits, which provides most of the playlist of Oldies with some classic rock with an addition of contemporaneous R&B and pop hits as well, creating a balance between the mostly 1970s-focused classic rock genre and

741-500: Is similar to the way Oldies stations sounded several years back, still playing one or two pre-1964 songs an hour during the day and as many as four an hour at night. However, to illustrate the continued decline in the format, San Francisco 's KFRC moved toward Classic Hits in 2005 and dropped this format entirely in 2006 in favor of the Rhythmic AC " MOViN " format, which left most of Northern California without an oldies station until

798-510: The 1950s and 1960s . Oldies radio typically features artists such as Elvis Presley , Chuck Berry , The Beatles , Jerry Lee Lewis , The Beach Boys , Frankie Avalon , The Four Seasons , Paul Anka , Neil Sedaka , Little Richard and Sam Cooke ; as well as such musical movements and genres as early rock and roll, rockabilly , doo-wop , soul music , Motown , British Invasion , early girl groups , surf music , teen idol singers, teenage tragedy songs , and bubblegum pop . Music from

855-542: The Dial Global corporation, the networks have merged into one, Kool Gold . Satellite Music Network offered "Oldies Radio", which survived until its acquisition by ABC but has since rebranded as Classic Hits Radio under current owner Cumulus Media Networks , focusing on music primarily from the 1970s and 1980s, with some limited 1960s music. ABC also offered The True Oldies Channel , a 24-hour Oldies network programmed and voice tracked at all hours by Scott Shannon , at

912-524: The Ron Hicklin Singers , but by the time of the "Hot Hits!" format, the vocals were recorded exclusively in Dallas. Many of the station references for the "Hot Hits!" jingles reside in the archives of Media Preservation Foundation . The creation of "Hot Hits" was Mike Joseph's method of combating the "more music, less personality" approach that was becoming prevalent on Top 40 radio at the time, as well as

969-440: The folk revival and instrumental beautiful music are among the most commonly excluded recordings from the Oldies era. Most traditional Oldies stations limit their on-air playlists to no more than 300 songs, based on the programming strategy that average listeners and passive listeners will stay tuned provided they are familiar with the hits being played. A drawback to this concept is the constant heavy rotation and repetition of

1026-747: The "Hot Hits" formatics while continuing to stay with the Top 40 sound and breaking in non-current music. Both would continue with success in the CHR format through the rest of the 1980s and beyond. While WNVZ is the most recent station known to have used the pure "Hot Hits" approach under that name, Joseph did go on to program several other CHR stations during the late 1980s with similar formatics, including WTRK "Electric 106" in Philadelphia in 1986, and WGY-FM "Electric 99" in Schenectady, NY, in 1988. WQBA-FM in Miami also ran

1083-562: The 1950s, 1960s and 1970s that was in rotation at affiliate stations. All but a few of these shows had ended their run by the mid-1990s, though Bartley's ran into the late 2000s (and eventually returned for several years in the late 2010s) while Clark's show continued until his 2004 stroke and in reruns until 2020. From 1986 to 1990 several solid gold stations evolved into full-time Oldies stations by eliminating current and recent product while also gradually eliminating 1980s songs and limiting 1970s songs substantially. KRTH and WQSR both did this in

1140-409: The 1950s, 1960s, and decades channels for the 1970s through the 1990s. A number of Internet radio stations also carry the format. From the late 2010s until 2022, shortwave radio station WTWW operated an Oldies service in the evening hours. In November 2022, WTWW lead engineer Ted Randall left the station and took the Oldies programming to a dedicated transmitter on WRMI a short distance down

1197-666: The 1970s and into the 1980s; WCBS-FM, for example, played current hits under the moniker "Future Gold" through the late 1980s, and WLNG on nearby Long Island featured a roughly 50/50 mix of current hits and Oldies from the early 1960s until about 1999. Most of these "Solid Gold" stations began to either evolve into other formats or drop the format altogether in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Most AM gold stations flipped to other formats. Some FM stations evolved into adult contemporary stations, including WROR in Boston and WFYR in Chicago . In

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1254-406: The 1970s. They indeed played more 1970s music than any other notable Oldies station. At the same time, WCBS-FM featured slightly more pre 1964 songs than the average station playing as many as five of those per hour. Oldies stations continued to be late 1960s based throughout the 1990s. WCBS-FM was an exception. Most AM Oldies stations also disappeared by the early 1990s except in markets where there

1311-450: The 96.3 FM frequency and used the on-air name "96 Now." Other stations in the early 1980s which utilized the "Hot Hits" concept included: WFEC -AM (1400), Harrisburg, PA ("Fire 14"); KITS -FM (105.3), San Francisco ("105 Kits," prior to the adoption of the station's long-running Alternative Rock format); WMAR-FM (106.5), Baltimore (later also as WMKR, "K106"); and WNVZ -FM (104.5), Norfolk/Newport News, VA ("Z104"). WFEC, which had been

1368-580: The Hot Hits format), and then in 1960, he helped transform WABC in New York City from a struggling, cash-strapped block-programmed outlet into one of the dominant Top 40 stations in North America. In the fall of 1963, following another success story in Grand Rapids at WLAV , Joseph oversaw the transformation of struggling MOR station WKMH in Detroit into WKNR (Keener 13) , still fondly remembered as one of

1425-675: The Jack FM format, resulting in a tremendous outcry from Oldies fans in the Big Apple and a huge decline in revenue followed. WJMK in Chicago (WCBS-FM's sister station) switched to Jack FM on the same day. Some point to the demise of WCBS-FM and WJMK as a sign that the Oldies format is in danger, for many of the same reasons that the adult standards and smooth jazz formats are disappearing. The Oldies format returned to WCBS-FM on July 12, 2007, in an updated form featuring music from 1964 to 1989 without

1482-529: The Motor City's most popular radio stations ever, and a few years later oversaw a similar turnabout at WFIL in Philadelphia. His resume also included stations in Minneapolis, St. Louis, New Orleans, Puerto Rico, and other markets, in a variety of formats from Top 40 to talk radio to beautiful music (Joseph admitted to being a classical music aficionado in a 1983 Billboard magazine article). In 1972, Joseph set

1539-520: The Top 5 hits every hour and in between other hits on the current chart. The top hits on an average Hot Hits station had a turnover period of 45 minutes to an hour, thus guaranteeing that when listeners tuned in, they were more likely to hear a hit and less likely to hear a "stiff" or a "bomb." They often also featured cuts from current chart albums, even if those cuts happened to be songs which had already charted and would have been considered recurrent or gold otherwise. Joseph put much effort into localizing

1596-744: The basics of Top 40 radio: "playing the hits, having fun, generating excitement through promotions, contests, and name-dropping - giving people what they want to hear, when they want to hear it. The standard of show business is to program the happening acts." Mike Joseph, a native of Youngstown, Ohio , and graduate of Western Reserve University in Cleveland, began his radio career in 1950 at WTNS in Coshocton, Ohio , and soon moved on to Grand Rapids, Michigan , to program CBS Radio affiliate WJEF (now WTKG ). In December 1955, he moved on to Flint, Michigan , to transition old-line NBC Radio affiliate WTAC into one of

1653-695: The debut of KCCL (K-Hits 92.1) in Sacramento in January 2007. However, KFRC had already evolved its format and positioning to classic hits at the time it changed to "Movin". But KFRC was not gone for long. On May 17, 2007, with Free FM hot talk format failing on 106.9 KIFR CBS relaunched KFRC with a rock leaning classic hits format on 106.9. But KFRC was not back for long either. On October 27, 2008, 106.9 KFRC FM became an all news 740 KCBS AM simulcast. KFRC now only airs on 106.9 FM HD-2 and online at KFRC.com. But KFRC came back again. On January 1, 2009, KFRC returned on

1710-554: The dominance of Milwaukee's two AM Top 40 stations, WOKY and WRIT (ironically, WZUU today bears the WRIT calls). Further success came in 1975 at WPJB "JB105" in Providence, Rhode Island , with a similarly styled format known as "Big Hits." Joseph's first high-profile success story with the Hot Hits approach came in the spring of 1975, when he switched WTIC-FM (96.5) in Hartford, CT , from

1767-561: The earlier music tended to appeal to an older demographic that advertisers found undesirable—hence, the addition of music from the 1970s and early 1980s. WCBS-FM canceled their "Doo Wop Shop" program and began playing only one pre-1964 oldie per hour; by 2003, there were fewer than 50 songs from the 1950s and early 1960s in the regular rotation. Many stations have since dropped the Oldies format because of low ad revenue despite high ratings. On June 3, 2005, New York City's WCBS-FM, an Oldies-based station for over three decades, abruptly switched to

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1824-967: The early 1980s many AC stations began mixing in more Oldies into regular rotation and aired Oldies shows on Saturday nights. Beginning in 1982, both AM and FM stations began changing to full-time Oldies formats. These stations played strictly music from 1955 to 1973, focusing on the 1964–1969 era. Among these Oldies stations were WNBC in New York City before 1988, WDRC-FM in Hartford, Connecticut , WODS in Boston, WOGL in Philadelphia , KLUV in Dallas , WWSW in Pittsburgh , WJMK in Chicago , and CHUM in Toronto . Some had as few as 300 songs while stations like WODS and WOGL had as many as 1,500 songs in regular rotation. By 1989, most large and medium markets had at least one, usually FM, Oldies station. This period also saw

1881-522: The format initially. Since around 2000, stations have begun to limit selections from the 1950s and early 1960s. At the same time these stations began playing songs from as late as 1979 and even a few 1980s songs. WCBS-FM New York slightly cut back on the pre-1964 oldies and slightly increased the 1970s and 1980s songs early in 2001. They also eliminated the overnight currents at the same time along with some speciality shows. In 2002, many Oldies stations began dropping pre-1964 music from their playlists, since

1938-589: The jingles as "Hot Hits!" to solidify its association with Joseph's stations (although the jingle package was not exclusive to Joseph-consulted stations, and in fact was used by some stations which programmed Oldies or even Country formats). The jingles were often played back-to-back two or three in a row. Both the "Actualizers" and the "Fusion" jingles were actually created for TM in Los Angeles by Dick Hamilton. The original versions were sung in Los Angeles in Dick's studios by

1995-548: The late 1960s to 1990s (sometimes playing newer material made in the same style as the older songs). As formats have drifted in time with their target audiences, classic hits and classic rock have moved further away from pure Oldies, which has largely remained a static format. In the early days of the rock era, the term Oldies referred to the traditional pop songs of previous decades; a 1953 record review in Billboard describes 1925's " Yes Sir, That's My Baby " as an Oldie. Oldies

2052-449: The late 1980s into the early 1990s. WCBS-FM however continued playing current product in regular rotation until 1988. After that, they played it once an hour between 11pm and 5:30am, until 2001. WCBS-FM also played several 1990s songs per shift during these overnight hours. They also continued to play between one 1980s song every couple of hours to as many as two per hour day and night. WCBS-FM also played from three to five songs per hour from

2109-617: The mid-1980s. The "Hot Hits" concept not just grew in the United States, but it expanded to its neighboring country of Canada as well on Saskatoon 's CKOM beginning in 1985. Beginning in 1983 Hot Hits stations started playing recent hits from the past several years mixed into the Hot Hits. Most of the stations therefore evolved into a more common CHR station as a result. By the end of 1983, both WBBM-FM in Chicago and WHYT in Detroit had allowed their contracts with Joseph to expire and had dropped

2166-462: The mid-2010s, as the phrase "classic hits" came to entail a format centered around late 1970s ( disco -era) and 1980s pop, dance and rock format, the phrase "Oldies" had come to entail a 1960s to mid-1970s format that centered mostly on soft rock and easy listening (akin to the old MOR format), examples including WRME-LD in Chicago. More upbeat 1960s and 1970s stations are known within the industry as "gold" classic hits. As of 2020, 1960s music

2223-463: The more broad-based Oldies format. The evolution of Oldies into classic hits is an example of channel drift . The Oldies format began to appear in the early 1970s. KOOL-FM in Phoenix became one of the first radio stations to play Oldies music, at that time focusing on the 1950s and early 1960s. In the 1960s, very few top 40 radio stations played anything more than a few years old. In the late 1960s,

2280-737: The most popular formats on radio in markets where it is still active. Some of the most successful major-market Oldies stations today include KRTH "K-Earth 101" in Los Angeles , XHPRS-FM "105.7 the Walrus" in Tijuana - San Diego , KOLA 99.9 in Riverside - San Bernandino KYNO in Fresno , California, 98.1 WOGL in Philadelphia , WMJI "Majic 105.7" in Cleveland , and KSPF in Dallas . WLS-FM in Chicago , however,

2337-661: The nation's first Top 40 stations and a stunning success. WTAC's owners, the Founders Group, installed him as their national program director, and Joseph also oversaw stations in New Orleans, Honolulu, and Syracuse, NY (the Syracuse station, WFBL , would later become one of his "Hot Hits" stations in 1979). From Flint, Joseph moved on to program WMAX in Grand Rapids and WKBW in Buffalo (which he later described as his first prototype of

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2394-624: The original Hot Hits concept, such as WZOU in Boston, WNTQ in Syracuse, KSDO-FM in San Diego, and KAMZ in El Paso, to use the phrase as well. However, in 1994, he took legal action to stop Blockbuster Video from using the phrase "hot hits" to describe their new releases and top-rented videocassettes. Joseph died April 14, 2018. Oldies Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music , rock and roll , doo-wop , surf music , broadly characterized as classic rock and pop rock , from

2451-426: The person won all the money in the jackpot; an incorrect answer or busy signal meant that the station would then add more money into the jackpot and try again with a different last name or street. This type of contest giveaway was standard on virtually all Hot Hits outlets consulted by Joseph. In a 1982 Billboard article, Joseph stated that he felt the reason for his stations' success was that they hearkened back to

2508-738: The radio at 1550 AM, as true Oldies. KZQZ , which aired in St. Louis , and began playing Oldies in March 2008, held onto the traditional Oldies format, playing a wide variety of top 40 Billboard hits from the 1950s, 1960s, and early 1970s, until the FCC forced the station off the air in 2020. Non-commercial WXRB , 95.1 FM in Dudley, Massachusetts (one of the first non-commercial all-Oldies stations in North America) began playing Golden Oldies on March 6, 2005, at 1:00pm, focusing on

2565-460: The rise of syndicated radio shows specifically aimed at an Oldies format. They included Soundtrack of the 1960s with Murray the K , Dick Clark's Rock, Roll & Remember , Live from the '60s with The Real Don Steele , Cruisin' America with Cousin Brucie , and Rock & Roll's Greatest Hits with Dick Bartley . Most of these shows were three hours long and featured much of the same music from

2622-679: The second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as well as for a radio format playing this music. Since 2000, 1970s music has been increasingly included in this genre. " Classic hits " have been seen as a successor to the oldies format on the radio, with music from the 1980s serving as the core example. This category includes styles as diverse as doo-wop , early rock and roll , novelty songs , bubblegum music , folk rock , psychedelic rock , baroque pop , surf music , soul music , rhythm and blues , classic rock , some blues , and some country music . Golden Oldies usually refers to music exclusively from

2679-403: The sound of his stations by having his DJs frequently mention cities and towns in the stations' listening areas, as well as streets, high and junior high schools, and other local landmarks. Prior to launching each Hot Hits station, he would spend months studying the market and the living patterns of its residents, and he stayed on at each station following its launch until he was certain the station

2736-450: The splintering of Top 40 into urban-leaning, adult contemporary-leaning and album rock-leaning camps, and what Joseph perceived as neglecting the needs of younger listeners aged 12 to 24 to focus solely on older adults. "Hot Hits" stations bucked this trend by playing all the hits on the charts, regardless of genre, whether they were rock, pop, new wave, R&B, AC, heavy metal, disco, country, oldies, or hip-hop. "Hot Hits" stations played

2793-510: The stage for what would become the first wave of Hot Hits stations on the FM band when he was hired to program WMVM, a struggling beautiful-music station in Milwaukee. In June of that year, WMVM's calls were changed to WZUU, and Joseph installed a tight Top 40 playlist of 30 current songs (with no recurrents or gold) which he dubbed "Super Hits." Joseph later credited his approach at WZUU for helping to end

2850-659: The station changed format to Music of Your Life ), WFBL played "Hot Hits" as "Fire 14," which played its top 14 hits every week in heavy rotation. The "Hot Hits" concept really appeared to grow in popularity after WCAU -FM (98.1) in Philadelphia, which had been struggling through unsuccessful Urban, Oldies and Disco formats for over a decade, relaunched with Hot Hits on September 22, 1981, as "98 Now." With legendary personalities such as Christy Springfield, Terry "The Motormouth" Young, Scott Walker, Rich Hawkins, Bob Garrett, with Todd Parker and Billy Burke. Paul Barsky would join in Mornings

2907-451: The station's program library, as well as rejection of the format by active listeners. This can be avoided either through the use of a broader playlist or by rotating different songs from the Oldies era into and out of the playlist every few weeks. Oldies has some overlap with the classic hits and classic rock formats. Classic hits features pop and rock hits from the early 1970s to early 1990s , while classic rock focuses on album rock from

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2964-487: The term "Hot Hits" on the air, and one of the few AM stations to try the "Hot Hits" concept, was WFBL -AM (1390) in Syracuse, NY - which Joseph had programmed back in 1956 as national program director of the Founders Group. In response to dropping ratings, WFBL management hired Joseph in the spring of 1979 to help turn around the station's already-in-place "Hit Radio 14" Top 40 format). From June 1979 through November 1980 (when

3021-562: The time morning show host at ABC's WPLJ . The True Oldies Channel was conceived on the concept of avoiding the drift into 1970s and 1980s music that the Oldies format was undergoing in the first years of the 21st century. Eventually, by the end of the network's terrestrial run in 2014, it had taken a hybrid approach, with both 1960s and 1970s music being featured at the core of the network, with some limited 1980s music included. In North America , satellite radio broadcasters XM and Sirius launched in 2001 and 2002, respectively, with more than

3078-416: The word "Oldies", but rather "Greatest Hits" in the on-air positioning, with songs such as " Girls Just Want to Have Fun " by Cyndi Lauper , " Gloria " by Laura Branigan , and corporate rock hit " We Built This City " by Starship in rotation (though the original WCBS-FM played current hits mixed in with its Oldies as late as the late 1980s and the three songs mentioned here during most of their years). By

3135-555: The years 1954 through 1979. On August 27, 2009, Grand Rapids, Michigan station WGVU became the first public radio station to feature an all-Oldies format. The format has since been imitated by other public radio stations; for example, WCNY-FM in Syracuse, New York has begun broadcasting a personality-based oldies format on its HD Radio digital subchannel . Jones Radio Networks , Waitt Radio Networks and Transtar Radio Networks also offered 24-hour satellite-distributed Oldies formats; since those companies have integrated into

3192-431: Was no FM oldies outlet. The format fared well with no end in sight. Beginning in 2000, Oldies stations began to notice that their demographics were getting older and harder to sell. Still, at that time only a few stations dumped the format altogether. A few, such as Orlando 's WOCL and Sacramento 's KHYL shifted to the briefly popular and more disco -centric rhythmic oldies format; most others continued to hang onto

3249-490: Was on the right track. (Usually stations kept him on as a consultant for a 52-week period afterward.) One of the most frequent contests featured on Hot Hits stations was known as "The Name Game," or "Family Fortune" in some markets in later years. A person with a particular last name or living on a particular street would be called by the DJ and would then be asked the amount of cash in the jackpot in that time. A correct answer meant that

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